Rep. Taylor Small: Covid Relief and Affordable Childcare | March 12, 2021
Friend,
This is Rep. Taylor Small from Winooski with another legislative update. We’ve had a busy week in the House: among other things, we passed a smaller COVID-19 relief bill and a bill that would prevent defendants from using a victim’s LGBTQ+ identity as a justification for their crime -- my first bill as lead sponsor to pass the House! I also want to update you on an important child care bill working its way through the House that will help make child care more affordable for low-income Vermonters.
Gay/ Trans Panic Defense Bill
I’m excited to let you know that one of the bills I mentioned in my last update, H.128, was passed in the House last Thursday almost unanimously. This bill effectively bans the use of the LGBTQ+ Panic defense in a court of law. As we know, by fully or partially acquitting the perpetrators of crimes against LGBTQ+ victims, this defense implies that LGBTQ+ lives are worth less than others. If passed by the legislature, we will become the 12th state to pass similar legislation. I’m grateful to have co-sponsored this bill with Rep. Mari Cordes; this is a historic step towards LGBTQ+ equality! You can read more about it in this article.
H.315 COVID Relief Bill
Another bill that was passed through the house this week is H.315, a COVID-19 relief bill. We expect more relief bills to be pushed through the house within the coming weeks and months that will work to provide more support for workers and marginalized Vermonters. This bill appropriates funds for a few different programs, including but not limited to grants for businesses that are struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, funds for the Housing and Conservation Board to provide housing for Vermonters at risk of homelessness, and funding for the Vermont Food Bank.
This bill also includes funds for distribution to the Association of Africans Living in Vermont and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants’ Vermont Refugee Resettlement program. Rather than being treated as an afterthought, the welfare of our refugees and immigrants statewide should be a priority in these relief bills. I’m proud that this bill includes explicit funding for these essential organizations as they have worked collaboratively through this pandemic to provide wrap-around services to some of our most vulnerable populations. I have seen the immense direct impact of their work here in Winooski, and am glad that we will be providing the necessary funding for these programs to continue on.
I’m also proud of the funding included for our Reach Up families that has been included in this bill. Reach Up is a critical program that helps support low-income families with young children, and this bill includes additional stimulus checks to support these vulnerable families. The pandemic has continued to highlight that our low-income families are teetering on the edge, as over 150 Reach Up families have had to move into the motel housing due to homelessness. We must work diligently to provide the necessary supports for safe and affordable housing, and I look forward to how future CRF bills can help make this change happen.
H.315 passed through the house this past Thursday and is now awaiting passage in the Senate.
Affordable Child Care
All families deserve affordable access to high-quality early childhood education, and early childhood educators deserve to be compensated fairly. Another bill that I worked on and passed through the House Human Services committee is, H.171, an act relating to the governance and financing of Vermont’s child care system, which aims to move us towards a child care system that works for all Vermonters. Child care is often inaccessible to the working class families who need it the most. In fact, we found that before the COVID-19 pandemic, three out of five of Vermont’s youngest children did not have access to the amount of child care needed by their families. My committee has worked to move in the direction of making child care more affordable by increasing access to the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP) to low and middle-income families, and we want to make sure that we continue moving down this path, and hope for a future where no families in Vermont pay over 10% of their income on child care.
This bill also addresses child care workers and the need for fair and commensurable compensation. Those who work in early childhood education are among some of the lowest paid workers with higher education degrees. It is critical that we compensate these workers fairly for their labor and provide them with much needed financial relief and benefits.
Early childhood education is critical for children’s development. We must make sure that we can foster an environment where our children are set up for success, no matter the circumstances that they are born into.
Thank you for joining me for this week’s legislative update!
In solidarity,
Rep. Taylor Small, Chittenden 6-7
Progressives in the News
Rep. Taylor Small
Panic defense bill passes in Vermont House- Kevin Gaiss, WCAX
Committee gives child care bill unanimous thumbs-up- Greg Sukiennik, Bennington Banner
Rep. Selene Colburn
